When I was younger, I had a plan: go to college, start my career, get married around 22 or 23, first baby at 24, etcetera etcetera. It was a pretty solid dream, but when I started reaching those ages, I looked back at my little ol’ plan with a hearty laugh.

First of all, starting a career and building up my portfolio is hard work. And the whole marriage thing? That was nowhere near happing. And babies?! For one, that wasn’t happening for me without the marriage part, and secondly, how was I expecting myself to care for a wee little baby when I still felt like one myself?

(Side note: If I knew being an adult was going to be so hard, I wouldn’t have signed up for it HAH. Who can I talk to about a refund!?)

But back to goal setting. It’s normal for us to dream and have aspirations (we should!), but expecting ourselves to reach them by a certain point is, in the words of the great Gwen Stefani, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Life just doesn’t work that way. It’s not going to revolve around what we penciled in our planner ages ago — and that’s ok! I mean, it’s incredibly frustrating sometimes, but that’s ok! Haha.

In “Lost,” Dermot Kennedy sings, “I’ve learned in love and death, we don't decide.” Just the thought of that — that the universe is so much bigger than all of us and that we have no control over meeting the love of our life or facing unbearable tragedy at any moment — whew. It just puts everything into perspective. This whole thing is His. Not ours, His. For Him, for His glory. And even if we can’t see what tomorrow holds, why should we let worry creep into our minds? Why live in fear when we can live in light?

It’s so easy for us to compare our lives (and timelines) to everyone else’s. If you ever feel like you’re not measuring up, remind yourself that God created YOU in His perfect image. Delete your social media apps for the night, day, weekend or month. Focus on the unfiltered, living color around you and take in the beauty of your own life. Your journey might be dissimilar to everyone else’s, but that’s the beauty of it! The paths we take are all different and beautiful and unique because they’re OURS.

Society has fixed it into our brains that we have to be married, have a baby, climb the corporate ladder, yadda yadda, by a certain age, when that’s just completely untrue. At the end of the day, the only thing making us feel that way is us. Our thoughts, our feelings, our mindset.

So what should you expect when you’re not expecting, engaged or conquering the corporate world?

Nothing + everything. The more we expect, the more we limit the greatness of our potential. But at the same time, never stop trusting in God’s timing and plan for your life — His will is better than any of our wildest expectations.

xx Kassi

ps — if you need some musical encouragement, check out the latest from my home girl, Maren Morris:

I tend to keep a minimal closet as it is, but I rifled through hangers last week and threw out anything and everything anti-joy. I probably came out with 2 full Trader Joe’s bags, but in my defense, my life’s belongings fit in my Civic (trust me, it’s happened), so I didn’t have much to toss.

It was around this time that I figured “the Kondo” (which kind of sounds like the Conga and therefore makes it sound more fun, no?), could be applied to so much more than material things. That’s right, friends. I took “the Kondo” digital. My desktop, social platforms, everything.

I’ve had my blog, The Light of Grey, for nearly 9 months now and I’ve shared various posts on life, music, recipes, etcetera, all in the hopes of sprinkling a little more light in the world along the way. In the meantime, I also started my own business, Poppy + Pine, where I’ve shared about essential oils, natural living + wellness over on Instagram. But the more I looked at both, the more I realized I wanted a space that combined it all — a place to not only share the light, but also my passion for natural living. For those that followed me on The Light Of Grey, this is just an extension of that. If you’re following me from Poppy + Pine on Instagram, this is my wordier self, hah. And if you’re completely new, that’s my face over there, hahah. Either way, I’m so glad to have you here! This is just me trying to make everything a little less crazy … and rollin’ on all the essential oils every chance I get. 🤘🏼

Hey! I’m Kassi, a twenty-something from good ol’ California. I love words, design and large cups of coffee. Most days you’ll find me in yoga pants, listening to Coldplay + diffusing some Northern Lights Black Spruce. Stay a while + say hey!